Holiday World 2010

Our annual pilgrimage to Holiday World was this past week and, as always, we had a spectacular time! This year we had the Cress family reunion there, which added to the fun.

We rode a few new rides this year, including Wildebeest watercoaster (awesome!), the Scarecrow Scrambler (boys loved that), and Frightful Falls, but unfortunately none of those were captured on film. Nick's personal favorite was the Wildebeest and mine was the good ol' stand by, Raging Rapids. We did all those and all the same ones we do every year. Here are the boys on the canoe ride...















...and Andrew on the kiddy spaceships...












...here's Alex driving an old timey car...













And Andrew driving an old timey car...












We stayed, as usual, at the Lake Rudolph campground in a rental camper. My mom and stepdad were right next to us and my step brother Chris and his family were next to them. One big redneck family in our respective trailers! ☺ Here is our attempt at a good family picture, including the "Cress Family 'Holiday' 2010" tee-shirts for all. (Yes, we're THAT family at the amusement park wearing the matching shirts!)













Getting everyone at the table at the same time was a bit of a challenge but here are MOST of us at dinner the first night.

















I don't know if it was the trailer living or what but the four kids found a dirt patch and went to town, getting absolutely filthy. I expect this from the three boys but I'm pretty sure that my neice Olivia was the instigator!














This is Alex and Olivia after they were busted and needed a hose-down before dinner. You can't tell because of the sunlight but they are COVERED in dirt, including thier faces.














Here's a better shot of the filth on Alex. That's not a black eye, it's dirt! Nice.

Strawberry Pickin'!

Strawberry season came early this year and so we hit Spencer's Farm to pick some for a strawberry shortcake. This was the boys (any my!) first time picking strawberries and they really enjoyed themselves.

It took a bit before Andrew was able to pick the berries without squishing them! Check out his hands in this picture:


















Showing off their loot!

Here we are with our bounty! Yay for strawberries! (The shortcake was WONDERFUL, by the way!)

Conner Prairie

After our fantasic balloon voyage we headed out to visit the rest of Conner Prairie. It's rather big so we only hit the Indian Village and the barn during the visit. Here are the boys working in the field preparing it for corn. Seriously? Are these the same children that refuse to even pull a weed in our own yard??! But a fake pioneer gives them a hoe and they can't be torn away!

Here's Alex grinding some corn. Again, they won't help at home with food preparation...perhaps I should try to incorporate more giant sticks in my kitchen appliances.

Here is Nick learning how to throw a tomahawk at a target. I've spared you the video of this endevour, however I have to share that after he had a few tries I felt the need to learn as well. My second try? Dead on. Who knew I had crazy tomahawk skills???

Then we headed over the the barn where they have animals just running around free for you to pet. Here are the boys petting the sweetest, softest bull! He had another name but I'm calling him Ferdinand after one of our favorite books.

The boys even got to brush him and he just allowed them to do whatever. He's seriously giving bulls a bad, or rather GOOD name!

Andrew enjoyed talking to all the animals and kept saying "Hi bull, my name is Andrew, what is your name?"

This shot is funny simply because Alex said "Here Andrew, you drive and I'll ride in the back seat."

After a bit they got out the baby chicks that had just hatched two days prior. Honestly, I was a bit afraid that the boys would accidently crush one and they'd ask us to leave but they were both surprisingly gentle.

Balloon Voyage!

Last weekend we got to ride a giant helium balloon at Conner Prarie! They have an exhibit there where you can experience somethig like a balloon voyage from 1859. (Conner Prairie is a living history museum similar to Colonial Williamsburg except set in the 1800s, for those who aren't from around these parts!)

I couldn't resist this cute photo-op of my boys!



















While we were waiting our turn we tried out the various experiments they had to explain how balloons work. Here are Daddy and Andrew having a race to see whose balloon will fill up first.




















Then it was our turn to board! Here is the gondola, made especially for this exhibit...
















More photo-ops with the boys...

















Here is what the balloon looks like underneath. It is not a hot air balloon but is filled with helium so it is almost perfectly round.















All the ropes that surround the balloon come down and are secured to the tether line and a motorized wench in the hollow middle of the gondola.
















The gondola has a walkway all the way around so you get to see 360 degrees when you get up in the air.















Here is a view of the parking lot from about half way up. I have to say that I didn't realize how high we were going to go and it freaked me out a bit! When we were landing the wind was catching the balloon and causing us to swing about 30 yards back and forth. Both Nick and I were a bit motion sick during the landing--balloons always look so floaty and peaceful but in fact it was quite violent!















Here is a picture I took from the parking lot of the balloon about half way up so you can see what it looks like from the ground:



















And here is the view from all the way at the top. It was so neat to see everything up high like that! The boys thought it was so cool and kept telling us to look at the "doghouses" which were really the houses at Conner Prairie that just looked small! For fellow Hamilton County residents, you can see White River running through the middle of this picture. So fun to experience this with my family!!!

Kindergarten Science Day

Alex had Science Day at school last week and had a blast! The first station he went to was making bouncy balls and he had to don this adorable lab coat and goggles.


















The next station was the ice cream making station. As an aside, I was manning this station with a few other suckers...uh, I mean moms. Yes, something about me must say "Put her at the super messy, super crazy station where all the kids will do is complain that their hands are cold." It was certainly an experience and when it comes time to volunteer for Andrew's class, I will request another station!

Anyway, the kids had to shake up their zip bags of milk, vanilla and sugar until it turned into ice cream. They worked in partners and his partner was a girl from his class named Brooke. The angry look on his face is exertion from shaking!














But it was all worth it when you got to eat your tasty treat!














Next it was onto the bubble station where the kids got to stand in a baby pool full of bubble solution and they used a hula hoop to enclose the kids in a giant bubble. Sadly this didn't really work that well and they couldn't get the bubble to come higher than their waist but it was fun to get your feet all slippery nonetheless!





























Then they were off to the rocket-making station. I truly didn't understand what was going on there but they put something into those tubes and it shot out across the yard. Very cool!
















And last but not least, they made sidewalk chalk. Which Alex spilled all over his shirt and shoes. Luckily it comes out easily! Yay for science!